Last Minute Valentine's Day Skirmish

 Allow us to warm the cockles of your heart.

You can say this is a made up holiday all you want,

an opportunity for the card companies and the jewelry stores to score.

To us, this is a great chance to be creative and make the people you love smile.

Bake. Hit up Facebook. Throw in Shakespeare in Love.

Do, don't spend.

 The Ladies of Rehab have you covered.

 Idea #1: 

Make THIS ridiculously decadent scratch chocolate cake in heart shaped pans.

Round will work, don't buy anything special.

Make the icing too.

Ice the first layer and stack them together.

Ice the top layer and build a small wall around the perimeter of the shape.

Lick the spoon.

Yes, it's very necessary, I assure you.

Now, cake decorating is an intricate, delicate art.

For those of us with no talent in that area, there's the miracle of 

raspberry pie filling.

Slather, my little Valentines, slather.

In minutes, you have a beckoning jewel of a confection...

...that is just not safe...

...'round man, beast, or combinations of the two.

Now, how about some perfectly decorated frosted sugar cookies on the quick?

This recipe is illegal in six states. Please check your local ordinances.

Lofthouse Sugar Cookie Bars

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Line a jelly roll pan (15x10x1) with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
3. In your mixer cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together. Add in egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. With mixer on low, add in your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Mix until just combined.
6. Press dough evenly into your prepared pan. (dough will be sticky)
7. Bake for 20 minutes until edges begin to golden.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream cheese makes them tender and soft, so they don't crumble.

You'll appreciate this is about an hour.

 Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray liberally.

 Glop the dough onto the foil.

 Press it into the sheet.

 You can try a spoon if you want...

...but your clean paws are the best tool for the task.

 Bake until you have a scrumptious sheet of golden brown cookie.

 Now, about that frosting...

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 16 oz. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Adjust milk and powdered sugar to get to desired consistency.

 We used red food coloring to get a light pink shade.

 Notice how thick these little gems will be.

Dollop the icing on and spread it until you've covered the whole surface.

 Start the decorating with a smattering of sugar.

 Layer with whatever you have.

This is no time for self-restraint!

Line your transport or storage pans with doilies.

 Lift the cookies out of the cookie sheet by the foil.

Cut them into bars and place on the doilies.

See? Not a piping bag or cookie cutter in sight, and these are gorgeous.

Now, the following images are collected from the net for your ease of use.

Right click and save as, then sprinkle into emails, Facebook, or print them out and slip

them into books and folders as surprises.

Happy Valentine's Day!